That Legal Defense of Ted Stevens Was Indeed Pricy

Anchorage--

Ted Stevens has reported that as of January 3rd he owed between $1 million to $5 million to Williams & Connolly, the high-flying Washington law firm that represented him in his trial last fall and in the post-trial litigation.

That reported range of $1 million to $5 million may not represent the entire tab for the defense, however. As pointed out by Erika Bolstad and Richard Mauer in the Anchorage Daily News this morning, the former Senator’s final financial disclosure report to the Senate does not preclude the possibility that Stevens has already paid some of the fees. It’s also possible that Williams & Connolly gave Stevens a discount as a loss leader to help attract other legal business to the firm.

Stevens also reported that he owed another $50,000 to $100,000 to another Washington law firm.

The Anchorage Daily News article notes that Stevens established a legal defense fund with the Senate last September, but never filed any disclosures about money the fund received. With Stevens out of the Senate, the newspaper reports that he is no longer required to provide such information.

The Anchorage Daily News story on the Ted Stevens financial disclosure report is available at http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/stevens/story/795500.html on the Internet.